SERMON XVIII.

THE PRIEST'S BLESSING.

NUMBERS VI. 24, 25, 26.

The Lord bless thee, and keep thee: the Lord make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee: the Lord lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.

VERY important is the office which is borne by the ministers of religion. Their duty is to minister in holy things, between God and the people. They are ambassadors for God; they are to announce his will, and proclaim his salvation. A dispensation is laid upon them to preach his gospel, and woe be to them if they do not fulfil it. It is their part also to "reprove, rebuke, and exhort with all long-suffering and doctrine." It is also theirs to open the promises of God in Christ, to shew to penitents the way of pardon and

peace, to comfort the broken-hearted, to strengthen the feeble-minded, to build up the church of God in faith and holiness. It belongs to them officially to declare the curse of God upon all unholy and sinful livers, all infidel and impious rejecters of Christ, so long as they continue impenitent; and on the contrary to declare and pronounce to his people, being penitent, the absolution and remission of their sins. It belongs to them also, as the accredited servants of God, to bless, in his name, all his faithful and obedient servants.

This we have already seen was a specific part of the office of Aaron and his sons. When I was expounding a part of the ninth chapter of the book of Leviticus, I shewed you how Moses and Aaron came out of the tabernacle and blessed the people; and I observed to you then that this was a stated part of the priest's office, as you may see in Deuteronomy, the twenty-first chapter and fifth verse, and again in the first book of Chronicles, the twenty-third chapter and thirteenth verse. I then also noticed to you

that we should afterwards find this form given by which the priests under the law were to bless the people; also I observed that the divine Saviour thus blessed his disciples when he left them at his ascension into heaven; and that our own church has introduced this very form, which stands as my text, into her appointed office for the visitation of the sick, while other apostolic forms are used in other parts of her services. Let it not be supposed that the grace of the benediction necessarily accompanies the use of the words. It rests only upon those in whom there is a meetness for its reception: to such it is addressed on the part of God, and as the words are spoken he dispenses the grace, confirming what is thus said by his minister on earth by his own power and mercy in heaven. The minister pronouncing the blessing is the instrument, the appointed instrument however, be it remembered, by whom God is pleased to communicate it. The minister has a delegated authority in this respect, an authority placed in him by the God of grace. He cannot exercise this

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authority at his own will; he cannot bless those whom God hath not blessed, neither can he curse those whom God hath not cursed nevertheless as he pronounces the curse of God on the wicked, the impenitently wicked, the profane, and ungodly, God ratifies that sentence in his own courts above; and again, as he pronounces the blessing, the converted and the holy have it confirmed to them in heaven, from whence it descends in mercy and grace upon their souls. Our Lord himself gives a clear statement of this matter in the commission which he gave to the seventy when he sent them forth, two and two, before him, (Luke x.) “ Into whatsoever house ye enter, first say, Peace be to this house. And if the Son of peace be there, your peace shall rest upon it if not, it shall turn to you again. When the same directions were given to the twelve, it was said, "If the house be worthy;" both which expressions shew that if the family were pious, and of a disposition to love and receive Christ, his servants, and his gospel, the peace so pronounced would be confirmed

unto them. Thus when we, in the name of God, pronounce any of our scriptural blessings upon you in the official exercise of our ministerial office, if your souls be gracious, and your hearts be right, and you be spiritual and converted persons, the blessing pronounced will rest upon you, and you will be blessed with it indeed.

As in the days of superstition and popery there was far too great regard paid to the mere pronouncing of the words of the curse or the blessing by the mouth of the priest, out of which many serious evils of false doctrine and corrupt practice arose; so in these days of laxity of discipline and depreciation of the ministerial office and character, there is, I think, too, great a disregard to these official declarations of God's appointed servants. But as a dutiful and pious child properly feels the value of a solemn blessing of a holy parent, and attaches much importance to it, desires to receive it, and cherishes the thought of it when it has been received, so the humble and pious Christian should value the public blessing of his appointed